It was ter in the evening when Adam met with Sonarot, the pair sitting across one another in one of the side rooms. Adam poured tea for them, using his Persevian tea pot which had cost him far too much gold.

  “I’d like to create a pany,” Adam began. “I have a rough idea of what I want to do. I’d like to create inns which dot the nd, iweeies. Pces where one go to rest and recuperate. Ean will be as one might expect, with very little to no differeweehere will be a smith who will repair one’s gear, and the inns will sell whatever one may require, from shields and ons, mundane and magical, to potions. I might even have an alchemist in ean, who knows?” Adam chuckled.

  “That is quite the dream, Adam,” Sonarot replied, feeling the warmth of her cy cup against her hand. “A difficult dream.”

  “Yeah,” Adam said, smiling wider. “Well, that’s not all. I was thinking about making a busio sell ented ons, starting with boutique enting for Nobles, before figuring out how to create formus for different ented items.”

  “Formus?” Sonarot asked, unsure of what he meant in the text of magical ons.

  “Yeah. I want to create formus, recipes, for mass produg the same magical on. I’ll train smiths, ents, and alchemists, and they’ll work for me iablishing a trade empire which will span from Drakkehrough Aldnd, and even into Aswadia. I might, if the Empire doesn’t take over the nd, push into the federacy.”

  Adam stared down at the tea. “I’ll train all kinds of warriors, from Fighters, to Guardians, to Priests, to assist with various different esc missions, if I go that route, as well as to defend the business. I’ll create different squads with different tasks, and they’ll be well trained for different situations.”

  “That is a greater busihan I imagined,” Sonarot admitted. She had thought she uood what Adam wao do, but this was so much rger than what she even imagined. She was still hung up on what he meant by creating recipes fical ons.

  “I…” Adam smiled, bringing the tea up to his lips, staring into his Aunt’s eyes as he sipped his tea slowly, wing from the heat. The sweet taste of strawberry lingered on his wouongue. “I want to gather the families of my workers together, all within the same pce, ahem work and live on the businesses’ nd. They’d be paid a small wage, but their housing, food, and even their healthcare needs would be taken care of. I’d put their children through education too, teag them how to read and write, and maybe even teach them more, the skills needed for the business, id the like.”

  “Jurot said that you also paid for Anne’s education.” Sonarot stared at the young Half Elf.

  “I did,” Adam admitted.

  “Why?”

  “I want to eventually hire her to work for me.” Adam smiled.

  “Is that the only reason?”

  Adam paused for a long moment. He hadn’t realised that Sonarot had figured him out to this extent. “I have a lot of power now, Aunt. I’m strong. Strohan I sometimes recall. I have the ability to ge the lives of the people around me in a way I didn’t think possible. Nobby’s one of mine now, so that means I’m going to take good care of him, and his family too. It’s the least I do.”

  Sonarot bowed her head, sipping the tea. She had assumed there was a reason like that behind it. Adam always acted for reasons like that. He was kind. Too kind.

  “That’s the surface of it, I suppose,” Adam said, pleting his pitch to his Aunt.

  “It is a good thing to strive for, Adam. I hope that you are able to create your business. No, I know you will be able to do it.” Sonarot smiled.

  Adam returhe smile, feeling awkward under her praise. “I want you to be the owner of the business, Aunt.”

  Sonarot raised her brows. Even now, Adam could surprise her. The feeling passed, and she smiled again, though her eyes were curious.

  “I trust you. Jurot and you, I trust you two the most. I ’t be the owner, for obvious reasons,” Adam said, pointing to his leaf shaped ears. “They won’t take kindly to no Elf, even if I’m only half an Elf.”

  “I am sorry, Adam. I ot. We Iyrmen do not have businesses within Aldnd.” It was teically true.

  “You don’t?”

  “We have business, but no businesses.” Sonarot tio smile. Teically, the Iyr had trol over a rge number of underground businesses, but it was more of a partnership that had been built eions.

  “Please, Aunt. It only be you. You don’t even have to do anything, really. All you have to do is stop me from doing anything too crazy that you, or the Iyr, might not like. I’ll prop it up on my own , and if it makes ive money, you’re free to dissolve it as you see fit, and I’ll deal with whatever I owe.” Adam had expected the resistance.

  “I do not think I am suitable for such a business, Adam.”

  “Then how about if I give simir positions to Aunt Citool, and Uncle Shikan, and Uncle Jogak?” Adam asked. “They could have a simir position to you, and you could be a part of a board so you ask them for advice?”

  “How would that work?”

  “You’d be the President, and they’d be the Vice Presidents. They’d assist you in making a decision about when to act, but you’re the only one who act. If you ’t, for whatever reason, then they act together to form a decision, but if you decide to go against them, then we do what you want.”

  “Then what would you do?”

  “I’d be a Manager,” Adam said, smiling. “Jurot and the others. We’d manage our own domains. Obviously, the enter would also hold a simir position to you, but you’d be above them.” Adam winked. “I’ll pay for everything, and I’ll make sure it makes enough money so that everyone be paid well.”

  Sonarot fell in thought for a moment. It seemed Adam was eager to have her assist him, though she was unsure if she was allowed to.

  “I also want it to have a good retionship with the Iyrmen,” Adam said, trying to coax her.

  “How?”

  “I want the Iyrmen to take pret. I nning oing all Iyrmen well, obviously, from dists, to greater services. The Iyr could also use the inns as an informatiowork, sions of people will pass through the inns. Money, information, services, I won’t deny it to the Iyr.”

  Sonarot remained silent, chewing ohoughts.

  Adam cleared his throat. “I was also hoping to help train Iyrmen in different skills, allowing them to gain practical experien the world, outside the Iyr. Of course, that would be useful to the busioo, but I think it’s a det idea for the Iyrmen too, though that’s not a requirement.”

  Sonarot was still stu his previous statements. ‘Recipes fical ons? An informatiowork?’ She sipped her tea slowly, deep ihought.

  Adam sipped his tea too, his heart pounding in his chest. If he couldn’t vince his Aunt, there was no way he could vihe Chief. It meant he o scale down his pns, and there may be less support. However, with the Iyr’s bag, he could do so much more.

  “It sounds like a costly endeavour,” Sonarot said, finally. “Are you certain it will make money?”

  “I doubt that all of it will make money, but that’s beside the point,” Adam admitted. “The business will be wide. I am going to be funnelling money from the profitable parts to shore up the losses of the unprofitable parts. It’s okay for some of the busio lose money as long as we’re green at the end of it all.”

  “There will be parts of the business which will lose money?”

  “It’s irely about the money, it’s about the ideals,” Adam whispered. “United Kindom. I’ll provide services to all. It’ll be such a great busihat even the King of Aldnd will think twice about starting trouble.”

  Adam chuckled quietly. “I just think it’s so… cool. The money is obviously nice, but I just want to make sure my people are taken care of.”

  “Who are your people?”

  “Right now? I’m not sure. I mean, obviously you’re all my people, but you’re taken care of.” Adam sipped his tea awkwardly. “Nobby, right? I want him to be happy with his family, his mother and father, and his sister. I wao grow well, just like Lanarht. That’s… that’s what I want. I want to be their Iyr.”

  “That is a great goal, Adam.”

  “Yeah. I was inally thinking about making a stronghold near Jaghi, Jurot said it was the sed best pce. I wao make it the headquarters, but I wao speak with the Chief about potentially making it on Iyrman nds. I doubt he’ll say yes, so that’s why I came to you first. If you could be the owhen maybe the Chief would be more open to the idea.”

  Sonarot sighed. She finished her tea, and Adam poured her some more as she thought. “You said you wished to mass produce magical ons? What does that mean?”

  “Basically, I’d make temptes for certain entments. I’m going to try and learn how to make an entment, something like a fire sword, that’s exactly the same each time I ent. I want to be able to make them so I make them identical, and without too much failure. I was thinking about training a few enters who could only make a handful of entments while they work for me.”

  Sonarot remained quiet. She realised that there were times that Adam could still shock even her. Something like mass produg magical ons, it erhaps one of the most dangerous things one could do. Not for the person, though there may be some dahere, but for people in general.

  “Of course, I’d share the formus with the owners of the pany. In fact, that could be how I pay you at first, since I’m not sure how much money I should pay you, or if I even afford that right now.” Adam’s heart ached in his poverty.

  ‘Even now, Adam, you say such eous things…’

  “Also…” Adam began, whispering ever so quietly. “I really…” Adam felt his cheeks flush. “I really want Lanarot to be called young miss or young madam. Don’t you think that’ll be so cute? She’ll think her papa is so cool too.” Adam rubbed his face, uanding how embarrassing it was to admit it, but it was no lie.

  ‘Of course,’ Sonarot thought.

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